The limits of the region are between the parallels of 47°33' N and 40°02' N and the meridians of 23°15' E and 25°03' E. Maramureș represents one of the largest depressions in the Carpathians, covering an area of about 10,000 km².

Its length from Khust to Prislop Pass is about 150 km and width from North to South is up to 80 km.

The main mountain passes linking Maramureș with the neighboring regions are high and in the past were hardly accessible in the winter. Prislop Pass (1,414 m high) links the region in the east towards Moldavia, Dealul Ștefăniței (1,254 m) in the south towards Transylvania, Pintea Pass (987 m) towards Baia Mare, and Fărgău (587 m) in the west towards Oaș Country, while Frasini Pass (Yasinia; 931 m) links the region in the north to Galicia.

The mountains surrounding this region occupy more than half of the area. A few peaks reach above 2,000 m, such as Pietrosul (2,303 m) in the Rodnei Mountains to the south and Hovârla (2,061 m) in Muntele Negru (Cernahora) to the north.

The last wisent from present-day Romania territory, a symbol of Maramureş, was hunted to extinction in 1852. Lostriţa, a local variety of salmon, still live in the mountain rivers.

Several protected areas have been created in Maramureș. Rodnei Mountains National Park was designated in 1930, Maramureș Mountains Natural Park in 2004, and there are many other caves, gorges, cliff formations, and lakes which are officially-protected areas.

The territory was part of the Kingdom of Hungary from the 11th century and was nominally divided between the Gyepű border region, comitatus of Szatmár and comitatus of Borsova. Later, the whole region was included into the comitatus of Máramaros. Initially, the inhabitants of the region were allowed to preserve their native political organization, the Voevodates, which formed many small autonomous areas. The King long struggled[citation needed] to convince the Voivodes to accept the title of Count, with the implied losing independence in political and financial matters. During the Middle Ages, the people in many mountain villages, where each family by definition had a considerable domain, were called nameşi, meaning free peasants taking pride in their family (the origin of the word is disputed, in the Kingdom of Hungary, free people possessing land were called "nemes" in Hungarian, in Romanianneam means extended family).

In the northern area most people speak the Ruthene language[citation needed], while in the southern area most speak Romanian, which is why the region was split into two parts.[2][citation needed] Since the 1940s there have been villages cut in two by the state border. There are some villages in the north (within Ukraine) that have a sizeable Romanian population, as well as some villages in Romania that have a sizeable Ukrainian population.